1. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
Assessment of Learning: Standards, assessment maps and progression points
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

2. Focus for this session Assessment of student learning
Using the standards in an assessment process
Using resources to help make on-balance judgments

4. Assessment – key issues
Why assess?
Characteristics of effective assessment
What evidence do we gather?
How do we assess student learning?
Making on-balance judgments of student achievement

5. Why assess student achievement?
To improve student performance
(Assessment as and for learning)
To provide useful information to report to parents on student achievement
(Assessment of learning)

6. Characteristics of effective assessment
Based on how students learn
Integral to program design
Clear purpose, goals, standards and criteria
A variety of measures

7. Characteristics of effective assessment
Valid, reliable and consistent methods
Attention to outcomes and processes
Ongoing is best
Feedback and reflection

8. Collection of on-going assessment

9. Standards Describe what students should know and be able to do
Set for six levels from Prep to Year 10
Signposts at widely spaced points along an underlying continuum
Basis for curriculum planning
Basis for assessment and reporting

10. Planning and gathering evidence
Identify focus domains, levels and specific elements of standards
Refer to standards above and below
Select assessment activities appropriate to demonstrate learning
Develop assessment criteria and/or rubrics drawn from standards

11. Collection of on-going assessment

12. Assessing more than one domain
Multi-domain units of work
One teacher might teach and assess all aspects of a student’s learning
Two or more teachers might teach and assess different aspects of a student’s learning

13. Students with additional learning needs
Modify tasks
Allow students to demonstrate learning in different ways
Refer to individual learning plans
Refer to Students With Disabilities Guidelines and English as a Second Language Companion

14. Using evidence to make judgments
Collect a variety of evidence
Base judgment on evidence overall
Work through school processes
Use standards, assessment maps and progression points

15. Assessment maps - purpose
Assist teachers to:
Develop common understanding of standards
Assess student work consistently
Answer the questions:
What does work at this standard look like?
What are typical features of work of students progressing towards the standard?

16. Assessment maps - features
Developed for each domain
Work samples illustrate achievement of elements of the standard/s
Work samples progressing towards a standard at three points

17. Work samples Address specific elements of standard/s
Describe context for assessment task
One or more samples illustrate typical features of student work
Annotations identify attributes of the work linked to elements of standard/s

18. Progression points Schools required to report to parents using A to E
Standards at six levels
Finer scale developed to support reporting
Three points between each standard to show progress towards the standard
Three points to show progress beyond Level 6

19. Progression point examples
Assist common interpretation of progression points when reporting
Illustrate typical development of some concepts and skills in the standards
Some concepts and skills developed across more than one level
Content references are examples – not prescriptive

20. Level 5 Standard – Thinking Processes
Reasoning, processing and inquiry
At Level 5, students use a range of question types, and locate and select relevant information from varied sources when undertaking investigations. When identifying and synthesising relevant information, they use a range of appropriate strategies of reasoning and analysis to evaluate evidence and consider their own and others’ points of view. They use a range of discipline-based methodologies. They complete activities focusing on problem solving and decision making which involve an increasing number of variables and solutions.

21. Standards and progression points
In Thinking Processes, the work of a student progressing towards the standard at Level 5 demonstrates, for example:
At 4.25
with teacher direction and using a range of strategies and self-formulated questions, identification of information that would be appropriate for an investigation, analysis or report
At 4.5
identification and synthesis of relevant information from given sources, using appropriate strategies to evaluate evidence; for example, identifying subjective or misleading information
At 4.75
use of self-generated selection criteria to locate and critically assess information from varied sources for investigative purposes
Level 5
Students use a range of question types, and locate and select relevant information from varied sources when undertaking investigations.

22. Collection of on-going assessment

23. Making an on-balance judgment
Evidence based – rather than where the student ‘should be’
Assessment is holistic and on-balance
Take account of differing nature and complexity of each assessment task
Key question: which standard or progression point does this collection of evidence best match?
Assessment maps and progression points are a further reference

24. Reviewing the evidence
Review a range of evidence
Evaluate what the evidence as a whole demonstrates about the student’s learning
Qualities may reflect statements or examples in more than one standard or progression point
Use moderation processes, assessment maps, progression point examples to refine judgment
Determine which standard or progression point, on-balance, the identified qualities best match

25. Online resources
VCAA
Standards and progression points, Assessment maps, Assessment principles, Assessment tasks, Assessment resource
Department of Education
Assessment advice, Assessment professional learning modules, Multi-domain assessment tasks, Reporting advice